Surprised by Glory

Sunday morning retuning: Pastor Paul Armitage reminded us from Micah 6:8 what the Lord requires of us.  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Those words are still ringing in my ears today, and I pray God will work them out in my living.  How about you?

So now I have been challenging you to pray for God to “Show Us Your Glory” and encouraging you to think about how to prepare for that  and what it looks like in your life.  Here is another illustration and encouragement as you walk along a step behind Jesus.  

Last week during choir, God revealed His glory to me.  We were dutifully rehearsing a song when the Lord decided to overwhelm me with a sense of His presence, surprising me with His glory.  I could barely finish directly the song, then had to a minute (which felt like an hour) when it finished to compose myself before I could even speak.

When I did I encouraged the choir members to linger in those moments when they occur.  My temptation was to press on, but the Lord stopped me and then used my experience to instruct me, and I hope my friends as well, that it is good to enjoy the God’s glory when it settles down on us.  A couple of disclaimers:  1) I had done nothing unusual to prepare for or deserve this encounter, but 2) I had prayed for His glory to be revealed.  God does what He wants, when He wants, how He wants, that’s part of the privilege of being God after all.

Here is a link to the song.  It’s a great song, but I find it interesting that I had sung it several times before God hit me with the text  the way He did last week, and has not since.  Jesus Died My Soul to Save   The text can be seen as you scroll down through the link, take a look especially at the use of the words swallowed and aches.

Another practical example...Earlier that day, last Wednesday morning, I was walking into the church the moment the skies opened and dumped a deluge on me.  Suffice it to say I was surprised to get drenched in a matter of seconds, but what really surprised me was the response of people who saw me as I entered the building.  

I felt like Moses having just come down from the presence of God’s glory on Sinai.  It was like people did not want to look at me, but it was because I was wet of course.  It was like they wanted me to cover up the evidence of my encounter saying essentially, “Go get yourself dried off”.  It gave me the perspective of being marked by an encounter.  I was surprised to get wet, much the same way we are at times surprised by God’s glory.

Allow me to encourage you to seek the glory of God’s presence, then to allow yourself to linger in His presence when it settles upon you, however and whenever it does.  Then go away, on, forward allowing your life to be marked by His glory.  

Jesus, show me Your glory.  Help me to live expecting You to do that at any moment.  When You do, help me linger there.  When I do, help me to walk away marked by Your glory.  Do the same for my family of faith, for our good and Your glory.  in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy